One Afternoon
by Arbarano
Summary: Something strange, something unusual, something bizarre has occurred at Sweet Apple Acres this afternoon. And Applejack has to wrack her brains to fix it. Or just ask her sister. She's a smart filly; she can help out.
1. Chapter 1

Horseapples.

Applejack let her eyes bore into the old, stripy wall-paper across from her, before scrunching them shut and dropping them into her hooves. Short, sharp breaths scratched and whistled through her teeth, which became more and more bared by the second.

How in the _hay_ had she let this happen? She let out a groan, dropping her hooves to the end of her snout. Hadn't Twilight said making a list'd _stop_ them getting all disorganised and shambolic and all them other fancy words that even _Rarity_ wouldn't use to talk about her farm.

Another groan rattled through her throat. And she just _had_ to get suckered in by it all, all Twilight's promises of how much time they'd save and how much they'd streamline their production costs, or whatever it was she'd told Big Mac when Applejack had raised an eyebrow at her. She twisted her muzzle. It was Twilight's fault for not using _normal words!_

It was Twilight's fault for talking her into this.

It was**—**

Her eyes shot wide. For the first time in a little while, she heard the sound of her own breath rustle across her hooves. Something clenched in her gut that _definitely_ weren't from the smell of tonight's cobbler, and she bit her lip. Had she really just**—**

She shook her head.

No.

It weren't right to blame Twilight for this, or _anypony_ for that matter. Applejack blinked away the sudden heat in her eyes. Twilight was just being a good friend. Hay, she was just being _Twilight_. And Big Mac had every right to say _eeyup_ to something that'd save the farm money, what with him being the one sorting through that mountain of papers upstairs…

Applejack pushed her bottom lip out a little, shaking her head again.

Still, none of that really helped _her_ at the moment, did it?

She put her hoof to her chin. And kept it there, tapping away, despite the little itch running across the back of her neck.

Nah, she couldn't think like that. This was Sweet Apple Acres. She let out a little chuckle; there _had_ been a reason why they'd needed those lists in the first place…

Now…

The barn? Didn't that need repainting?

_Suddenly, all she could see was Pinkie Pie at the top of a very tall ladder, adding the last little touches to a giant picture of herself on the side of the barn. Far below, Applejack stared up at it all, her eyebrows furrowing for a second. Granny'd probably not take too kind to this… but on the other hoof, it was _mighty kind _of Pinkie to finish the job for her. She let out a grin, and Pinkie sent back her own, twice the size._

Her taps got just a little quicker. The fence?

_Applejack felt something slap against her back, wet and slimy and trickling over her cutie mark. She span around, and found Apple Bloom staring back at her with those big, soft eyes and that wide, innocent smile that only a little filly like her sister could pull off. Only this time, her teeth were wrapped around one of their paintbrushes, drops of white slicking off the end of it._

_AJ turned back to the fence, saw that _it_ was all white, and looked back as her sister with narrowed eyes. She grinned, and moved a hoof towards her own brush…_

Her teeth stood on end, and she finally rubbed the back of her neck. The pigs?

_Apple Bloom stood in front of her, and all of a sudden AJ felt her smile split and her jaw hang open. AB just stared up at her, blinking and wincing as little trails of gunk wandered near her eyes, with apple cores and cabbage leaves and little bits of old pastry and that green stuff _nopony_ wanted to know about coating her fur._

_Applejack put on her warmest smile. Bending down, she told AB that a nice, hot shower was waiting for her…_

Her eyes darted from the crinkly-but-still-holding-together wallpaper to the floor that not even Granny's eyes had spotted so much as a spec of dust on.

Applejack sighed. Horseapples.

"… Hmm-mmm-mmm Cutie Mark Crusaders…"

Applejack's ears perked up, a grin stretching through her cheeks.

"… do-do-do who we are!"

She almost slapped herself. Why didn't she think of that _before_!

Applejack got to her hooves, practically _skipping_ down the hall to where that sweet little voice was wafting out of.

Of _course_ Apple Bloom'd have something they could do together. Applejack smiled. She could help her little sis out with that essay she'd heard AB grumbling about a couple of days ago, or go through some of them math problems she was always being set**—**the simple ones, anyway**—**or they could just go through the _inventory_, as Twi called it, and make _positively_ sure that they'd done everything!

AJ stopped. If there were a mirror nearby, she'd have given herself a good, long, _hard_ stare.

Was she going _crazy_, or something? Was she trying to work that filly until she couldn't _stand_ anymore?

She shook her head.

Apple Bloom was a smart little cookie. She should've remembered that, what with all the times Ms Cheerilee'd had the pair of them walking away from those parent-teacher evenings with big, wide grins and springs in their steps, and with her looking to make sure AB got an extra-big slice of desert and a couple of chores taken off her list.

"… na-na-nah-na-na-na cutie marks!"

She let out a silly little chuckle, and set back off after the voice. Maybe they could just toss around that old hoof-ball? That'd still be _something_, right?

Applejack trotted through the door to the living room, and didn't have to look hard to find Apple Bloom. She lay spread out on the rug by the hearth, her scrubbed coat practically shining with the fire behind her, muzzle buried in that little colouring book her friend Sweetie Belle'd gotten her last week.

Applejack looked up, and brought one of her hooves down a little harder than she really had too, and smiled as AB looked up.

"Howdy, Apple Bloom."

She was _sure_ she spotted her little sis' eyes light up for a second or two. "Applejack!" AB leant down and grabbed her book in her teeth, turning it around as she trotted closer. "'ike i'?"

Applejack looked away from AB's smiling eyes, and down onto the picture. She'd heard Rarity gabble on about that Blueballs feller, or whatever his name was, enough times last year to know a fairytale wedding when she saw it. Apple Bloom'd done a real good job with it, though. Everypony'd been coloured in, right up to the lines but not even a whisker too far, and she'd made sure that no two ponies next to each other shared the same colours. She'd even made Princess Celestia's mane look like it was moving.

And in the middle, she'd given the prince a deep red coat, and big green eyes that looked down all soft and happy at his princess, who AB'd given a light yellow colour, except for the pink on her mane. And her cheeks.

_Aww…_

Her smile wobbled for just a moment. AJ let out a little chuckle. "Yep, and I know two other ponies who'd like this _very_ much," she said, running a hoof through her sister's mane.

If anything, Apple Bloom grinned even wider, and AJ was sure she was going to have to shield her eyes, before it disappeared again. "Wait…" AB carefully placed her book on the floor, and she looked at AJ with an eyebrow wandering upward. "What're you doin' here, big sis? I thought you said you'd be out all afternoon?"

With those big eyes staring at her, AJ had to _really_ fight to not itch her neck. "Well… that's the thing, Apple Bloom." She took a moment to look out the window. "I think I've finished all my work for today."

Now those eyes sparkled and shone like some sort of _gemstone_. She got a real good look to decide that, too, as AB leapt right up to her. "_Really_?!"

"Yep." Applejack smiled as her sister landed. "And I was wonderin' if there's anythin' you wanted us to do together…"

Applejack couldn't help but smile a little wider as her sister scrunched up her muzzle, rubbing a hoof along her chin. And then again as Apple Bloom's hoof sprang free, and she raised it high above her head.

"I've got an idea!" AB beamed at her big sister, and it only shrank a little as she let out a tiny chuckle. "But it's gonna' have to wait 'til after dinner. S'that gonna' be**—**"

"COME AND GET IT, WHIPPERSNAPPERS!"


	2. Chapter 2

Applejack glanced down at her plate, eyes widening at her prize. It was bigger than it normally was, come to think of it, and not that _that_ was a bad thing. All right, maybe it was when Mac had already ploughed his way through three of the dang things, and she could see him inching a hoof back to the spatula, but she wasn't about to stop him.

Hay, she was having a hard enough time stopping herself from drooling all over own her slab of pastry. Nah, that wasn't right. It was more than a slab; it was practically a patchwork quilt of puffy goodness, with an even finer treasure lying beneath its flaky surface.

Licking her lips, AJ took in a deep, long whiff, almost _drinking_ down the sweet scent, warmth filling her insides.

She looked away from her plate, and over to the pony whose hooves had put it there moments before. Yes _ma'am_. She smiled. Granny might not remember much, anymore, but she'd sooner forget the sky was blue than misplace an old Apple Family recipe. And that was something the whole _town's_ taste buds'd appreciate come the harvest festival next month.

Her smile faltered, leaving behind a scowl. How had they _already_ got enough cider for that?

"Soo, Macintosh?"

From staring at the table, Applejack's eyes flew over to Granny, who had a hoof pointed at Mac. But it was only just lifted off the surface, and her eyes glowed softly.

"Eeyup?"

Granny's cheeks bunched up even more. "I was jus' wonderin' if y'had any plans with that filly-friend o'yours for the evening'."

Mac smiled and gulped down one last mouthful. "Eeyup. 'Shy needs help findin' firewood."

AJ snorted. Big Mac, the _romantic_. Her smirk ran free.

"An' what 'bout _you_, Applejack?"

AJ looked up to find Granny's warm, soft eyes beneath a high eyebrow, a smirk of her own just below them.

"I don't rightly know, Granny," she said, shaking her head just a little before looking across the table to the littlest Apple. "AB's surprisin' me with somethin', though, aren't you?"

Her sister smiled back.

But hers ran off, scared.

She blinked, an awful _something_ starting to gnaw away at her insides. Her sister's smiles came in three types.

There was the big wide one, with maybe a glimpse of teeth, which usually brought along a spring in her step and happy little twinkles in her eyes. Applejack had seen that a lot more, lately, and it normally meant a big hug and a nice, long half-hour by the fire, listening to that squeaky voice of hers talk about the next amazing adventure her filly sister had been on. That, or they were on their way to _making_ one of them stories…

Then there was the _even_ wider one, where she'd show off how much she listened to that nice dentist. It'd usually be from right down by Applejack's forelegs, with eyes big and dark and wet and daring her to say that that little darling was _not_ getting another filly-fighter comic this week…

And there was also _that_ one. The one where she'd maybe curl her lip a _little_. The one that she now knew had just one proper response, and it wasn't gonna' make _her_ sister cry…

But this one…

"Yup!"

AJ stared. At that little curl, each end running into a tiny dimple. At those eyes, glowing softly like fireflies in an old jam jar.

And at those tingles running down her neck again.

Just what was that filly planning?


End file.
